As Rafael Nadal left the court after a hard-fought but deserved 3-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1 victory over Robin Soderling, it was fascinating to see his support group, led by his coach and uncle, Toni, celebrating almost as much as if he had won the Wimbledon title. Five games into the match, the world No1 had yet to get on the scoreboard but he fought his way back brilliantly and eventually ran the tired Swede into the ground to set up Friday's semi-final against Andy Murray.

This was a match that the Nadal camp knew would be a huge test of their man's ability to win the title for a second time, two years after his first. The Spaniard beat Soderling to win his fifth French Open title less than a month ago but the Swede's big serve and huge groundstrokes had seen him off in Paris the previous year, and he is in the form of his life. At 5-0 down in the first set Nadal looked concerned, but the way he fought back was impressive and although the path ahead is littered with obstacles, he must believe he can repeat his 2008 victory.

"I started so-so, but Robin was playing so deep and his shots were powerful," Nadal said. "It was a little difficult for me to take the initiative in the points. I had some trouble in the first game of the second set, when he had a break point, but I saved it playing really good tennis and after that I think the match changed."

Nadal was absolutely right, but it took a moment of minor controversy in that opening game of the second set to get him going. Serving at 30-30, a Soderling backhand was called out and Nadal hit his subsequent backhand into the net, only for the Swede to win a Hawk-Eye challenge. The umpire, Pascal Maria, then ruled that the Spaniard had played his backhand anyway and since it had gone into the net, Soderling had a break point.

A disbelieving Nadal told the umpire that the call had come before he played his shot and asked to see the supervisor. "Pascal, that's unbelievable," he said. After a brief discussion, he walked back to his mark and saved the break point with a crunching forehand, prompting an enormous fist-pump. Two points later he held and then broke in the next game to lead 2-0.

"It was an important moment for me, because if he did break in the first game of the second set, it was going to be hard to accept," Nadal said. "I was going to fight all the match anyway but I saved that point and started to play much better. He started to make a few mistakes because at the beginning he was not making any."

From that moment, the momentum changed completely. Nadal held the advantage to take the second set and then broke in the fifth game of the third set and held the edge to 5-4 when Soderling risked the wrath of his opponent with a second moment of controversy, by taking a medical time-out. When the two played here in the third round in 2007, Soderling was infuriated by what he thought was the excessive time the Spaniard was taking between points and decided to impersonate Nadal's tugging at his shorts, something that did not go down too well. The spat has long been forgiven but perhaps not totally forgotten and the Spaniard's mood was not helped when he was broken when serving for the third set.

There is probably no one better at putting disappointment out of his mind than Nadal, though, and he bounced back superbly, playing an aggressive tie-break to snatch it 7-4 and move ahead. Buoyed by the advantage, he then broke the Soderling serve in the fourth game of the fourth set and as the Swede tired, he repeated the feat two games later before serving out to clinch an impressive victory.

With the surprise defeat of Roger Federer earlier in the day, the bookmakers installed Nadal as the favourite but with Murray to come next, he said he had a long way to go. "Roger did amazing the last few years here and to win for six years is unbelievable," he said. "But one day you have to lose and Tomas Berdych is a very difficult opponent. In my opinion, there is not one favourite for the tournament."

Soderling said the blister on his left toe had been a little painful but had not been a significant factor in his defeat. "I think the difference was that he returned a little bit better than me," he said. "I was a little frustrated because I didn't put many returns in. He's the world No1 and I think he's playing pretty solid tennis. He's got a good chance to win this one."